The spotter added: “They were very bright. They were high in the sky, rapid, moving horizontal and round and round and up and down.”

Two months later, a “hovering red light, with a strong white light coming from it” was spotted in Arborfield.

Meanwhile, a year later, a 28ft circular object with a dome on top which sported a “bright yellowish/whitish light” was seen over the skies of Finchampstead.

And the eerie sightings do not stop there, with one person claiming he saw an object with approximately 300 tentacles somewhere in Reading.

Leading British UFO investigator Ananda Sirisena, from Caversham, said the number of sightings in the town have remained steady and he has received around half a dozen reports in the area in the past year.

He said: “There have been several reports from different areas of Reading.

“People are quite sincere when they report what they have seen. I have noticed that they don’t exaggerate, they are mystified and would like to know what they have seen.”

Mr Sirisena, who became interested in extra-terrestrial investigation after he saw a UFO himself in the summer of 1964 on his way to school, is a leading authority on the subject and will be giving a talk on the MoD’s file release at the Inner Potential Centre in London on Wednesday.

He told the Evening Post that while the MoD’s move is a step in the right direction, more needs to be done to raise the profile of UFO sightings in the country.

Mr Sirisena said: “It’s about time the files were released. But they should release all the classified military reports as well. It’s a gradual breakthrough which has been taking place for so long.”

He added: “This is an indication that people do see unusual things and do report them. Hopefully scientists will now start to appreciate the subject with a more open mind.”

The MoD said its files had more to do with monitoring UK security and releasing files in a structured way, given the large number of requests it gets each year for information on UFOs, than playing Mulder and Scully.

A spokesman for the MoD said: “To date, independent experts have concluded that there are realistic explanations behind alleged UFO reports, such as aircraft lights or natural phenomena.

“Reports are examined by the Ministry of Defence solely to establish whether UK airspace may have been compromised by hostile or unauthorised military activity.

“If required, sighting reports are examined with the assistance of the department’s air defence experts.

“Unless there is evidence of a potential threat, no further works are undertaken to identify the nature of each sighting reported.

“The Ministry of Defence has no other interest or role regarding UFO matters and does not consider questions regarding the existence or otherwise of extra-terrestrial life.”